Safe
by SpongeGuy
Summary: 3 Months after Ionic Bonds, Noir thinks about Peni. A Gift for AnimationNut.


_December 24__th__. 1933._

_Spider-Man Noir, known only to a few as Peter Benjamin Parker, and affectionately known as Noir to 5 other spider people, stumbled into his office._

_Blood soaked his trenchcoat, but it was painted black and white._

_It was all painted black and white._

_The steps to his office/apartment were now laced with pools of blood, dripping every so often as he ascended them._

_The rusty railing made no sound as his hand used it to keep going, and the door only lightly squeaked as he pushed it._

_Light washed over (sort of) the room, revealing his office._

_A simple wooden desk, pens and papers scattered everywhere, and a left over cup of coffee from the morning that was ice cold; a hard, wooden chair, the 5__th__ this week thanks to the recent mob attack of his building; and an egg cream stained couch that was somehow more comfortable than the bed despite the clear arch pain in his back._

_Maybe because he wanted to feel that pain._

_Just to feel something. Anything._

_Burning matches was just not cutting it._

_Noir tried to move his mouth, even a little bit, but his jaw was clearly disconnected._

_And his hands were too filled with glass shards to really handle that right now._

_The floorboards squeaked like the door as he tried his best not too collapse on them._

_"__Is… Is she ok?"_

_CRASH!_

_Clearly, his best wasn't enough._

_"__It wasn't enough… For that girl…"_

_Noir didn't want to think about it._

_He didn't want to think about her._

_About her terrified eyes as she was in the hands of those monsters._

_About her petrified screams as he tried in vain to get her out from there._

_About her outstretched hand as he tried to reach…_

_And about her faint, unmoving hand as the deed was done…_

_Her blood, still on his coat._

_She was gone…_

_She was gone…_

_She was go…_

_Removing his mask for the first time months, Peter Benjamin Parker breathed heavily, flashes of the scene still burned in his mind._

_He knew that Cletus Cassidy was a killer…_

_But he didn't know how far he'd go…_

_Only the sound of heavy heaving could be heard from his office, soon deafened by heavy rain._

_Heavy._

_Chest._

_Abrasions._

_Left rib._

_Maybe some fractures?_

_Maybe if he focused on the pain, it wouldn't hurt._

_"__Hospital."_

_Hospital._

_That's good._

_They'd stitch him up all nice and well._

_He'd be back on his feet._

_Unlike her…_

_PUNCH!_

_Noir now felt a little bad for the hooligans he took on some days. His punch hurt like hell._

_Hell. He'd go there some…_

_"__Ok, this is getting ridiculous."_

_Noir felt like shit, but he wasn't going to stay in this cycle for much longer._

_He needed… Air._

_He needed to think._

_The rooftop was sparsley populated, the pigeons flying away immediately as he crawled up._

_Carefully sitting down, now realizing he may have a bruised tailbone as well, Noir closed his eyes, his mask back on so he wouldn't have to face even the stars._

_Her voice, still calling out for him, echoed in his ears…_

_…_

_"__How could I have done this? How could I have failed?"_

_Noir had seen many terrible things in his life._

_But this one almost took the cake._

_It made him question everything._

_How could he call himself a hero when he couldn't save that girl?_

_How could he ever make up for such a mistake?_

_The metal in his mouth stung and he suddenly thought of another little girl in his life._

_One who confused him endlessly._

_He didn't want to think about this now, but anything was a welcome distraction from the pained screams as she was touc…_

_Shaking his head, shivering, Noir forced himself to see the one person he didn't get, even more than Ham: Peni Parker, a Japanese Spider-Girl from the year 3145._

_When they first met, Noir thought she was slightly less confusing than the antromomorphic pig. For one, she wasn't a cartoon character (at least, he thought), and secondly, she was a little girl. Those were easy to understand, no?_

_But as time passed, Noir found that less confusing did not equal easier to deal with._

_Peni was a mixture of contradictions, a cavalcade of emotions: She was proud and a little haughty (introducing herself as a "genius, badass, and hero", in that order), yet shy and almost scared whenever something really weird happened, like if some particularly scary looking guy would pass._

_Of course, the reason was because Sp;dr needed time to re-charge, but Noir had a hunch that Peni wasn't as brave, or to be less harsh, wasn't as fearless as she liked to pretend._

_Not that she was JUST a little girl!_

_In the three days he had spent with her, he had been given many chances to be impressed with the odd girl: She was a genius as she said (how DID she make that doohickey, and how did she pilot it were most impressive!), she was a skilled mechanic too (watching her work was almost mesmerizing, almost offering the illusion that you yourself could do such wonders) and her childlike wonder was at times, almost infectious._

_Despite his unfamiliarity with this new universe, she kept asking him questions (which Ham was MORE than eager to answer with a quip and or pop culture reference), ones he tried his best to answer, because her eyes sparkled even in this mad color spectrum that surrounded them._

_Perhaps that was why he had struggled at first to comprehend her, he thought, as he began to relax a little, breath now slower and more controlled._

_Lying down on the roof, hat still firmly in place, he winced as she appeared before him, bouncing around almost as she pointed at things:_

_"__Why are people still driving cars? Don't they remember the fly function?"_

_"__Isn't that funny, Noir? (she had quickly assigned him that nickname) That guy is working in an office!"_

_"__Wait, people still eat Hot Dogs? Did they NOT hear of the green bits epidemic of…"_

_Since then, Noir had not been able to touch a hot dog, though honestly, he noticed he was better off without them._

_Sighing, but now with a hint of affection, his mind wandered to the first night._

_Peni had so far both confused and impressed him._

_She had even managed to help when they got attacked by some simple mugger, despite his attempts to get her to hide._

_That… Ticked her off a bit, but he had managed to make amends with something called "Sugar Nightmare Express Deluxe and Knuckles"._

_The sugar rush had taken time to cool off, but by the time it did, Ham was fast asleep and he was on a rooftop, surveying the area._

_And…_

_Peni was there, suddenly._

_"__Whatcha doin'?", she had asked, clearly shivering._

_Noir did not offer his coat, but only because his eyes were still hurting._

_"__Shouldn't you be asleep?"_

_"__Shouldn't you be not rubbing your mask?"_

_Noir chuckled. She was quick, he had to admit._

_Pain still swelled in his gut, though. He needed some alone time. Besides, this kid wasn't someone he should get attached too. He doesn't do that. He…_

_He can't do that._

_"__Look, doll, you really should rest. I'm sure that Ham makes for a good blanket."_

_"__You bet!", he somehow floated up, wiggling his eyebrows._

_"…__How did you do that?", Noir asked, as Peni couldn't help but giggle._

_"__It's a gift, just like my incredible sense of humor!"_

_As Ham floated down, wearing a bellhop outfit because OF COURSE, Peni looked over at Noir. "You know, you didn't tell me what you are doing."_

_"__You know, you're very nosey."_

_Good trait in a detective, he couldn't help but think._

_Peni schooced closer and made puppy eyes. "I promise I'll go to sleep if you tell me!"_

_Noir had to end this._

_So he got up, hands in his pockets, and stood with his back to her, watching the painful sky from another angle._

_"__Doll, I'm serious: I'm bad news. Just stay away. Besides, I doubt you can help."_

_Peni took offense to that and crossed her arms, turning her back too. "I can so! I can totally help!"_

_Noir pinched the bridge of his nose, frustrated. "Ok, then try this for size, kiddo: How come everything is out of wack? Why are my eyes seeing things that shouldn't be there? Why the hell am I here, when I'm sure they could have chosen any Spider-Man?"_

_Ok, so maybe he was venting a bit. He had never liked himself. It had always surprised him that his Aunt May hadn't cut him off._

_And it was even more surprising when Peni suddenly turned and gripped his coat._

_"__Well… I think you're sort of impressive."_

_You couldn't see it, but he was raising an eyebrow. "How so?"_

_She was shuffling at her feet. Suddenly, she remembered she was 14, and perhaps a little younger than she liked to think._

_"…__Well, you have the cool detective gimmick. And the hat! And… Well…"_

_She was avoiding something. You didn't need to be a private eye to pick up on that._

_"__You're holding something back. Spill the beans."_

_Somewhere down there, Ham was spilling a cup of coffee and snickering._

_"…__I guess… Well…"_

_Finally, she spat it out, pouting._

_"__You make me feel safe, ok?!"_

_Noir was surprised by this, and turning wildly, he got blinded by the colors again._

_Still, he blinked it away to focus on the weird, black and red blur who sort of looked like a girl, but resembled something else as well._

_Her blacks and reds morphed into greens and pinks and blues as she became a shell onto herself._

_"__I know I play it tough, and I can take care of myself, don't misunderstand…"_

_She sighed, looking down at a massive amount of responsibility._

_"__But I miss home. And I know that something is wrong here. And, well…"_

_She sniffled._

_"__You're perhaps the closest thing I have to someone who can protect me if me and Sp;dr are in trouble."_

_"__HURTFUL!"_

_Peni shouted back. "Hey, you're there to make jokes!"_

_"__True. I retract my comments, your honor. The whole system is out of order, as is the escalator."_

_Peni looked back at a very confused Noir._

_"…__I guess… Well…"_

_Peni clutched her tiny fingers together._

_"__You just feel nice. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that we could be friends."_

_No one had ever said such things to him, least of all a little girl._

_Sitting down, putting a comforting hand, weird as it was, he avoided answering by letting her help._

_"…__All these… Colors, I think? Are blinding me. I come from a place where everythin' is black and white. It's… Painful."_

_Peni was more than happy to teach him._

_And as she did, Noir looked at her, at her reds and blues and pinks and greens and blacks that he could now sort of name (but constantly forget) because she helped him, and he couldn't help but think how Peni was not only a mixture of contradictions and a cavalcade of emotions:_

_Peni Parker was a kalidascope of colors._

_And for once, he didn't want to turn away._

_And that feeling had been there ever since, twisting in his gut._

_Knots formed in his stomach as he thought of her, of all those odd moments since that night, where she would cling a little, where she would look down and blush, where she would suddenly climb his shoulders before sheepishly going down._

_She'd tug at his coat and she'd offer to show him her world and she was always checking up on him and he didn't get it._

_What had he done? Why was she so nice?_

_And it was at that moment that Noir began to piece it together._

_Peni had lost her dad, he remembered. It was a sore subject, like Uncle Benjamin for him._

_And as hard as he wanted to hide it from her, the group had once managed to get him to talk about the man who ruined his life._

_The man he later wrestled to the ground and beat the living daylights out of._

_Blood was flowing everywhere, and for a moment, the chance was there._

_But…_

_Revenge was not his game._

_So he withdrew._

_And as he walked down to his apartment, feeling like he was going to die, who else was waiting for him but Peni._

_He had asked her not to come to his dimension unless he said yes, but she ignored him._

_Not that there was time to be mad._

_He wanted to, but the moment he started he saw Vulture…_

_And he fell to the ground, sobbing for the first time._

_And that was when Peni Parker surprised Noir for the first time: She hugged him._

_Noir had never felt so loved then when a girl from another dimension whispered that it would be ok in his ear._

_And now it was all clear._

_Why else would she do all this if she didn't care?_

_Of course she cared: She saw him as…_

_As…_

_Noir stood up, wiping his brow, the image of the girl he let down very much in his mind, but getting replaced with a new task._

_It was Christmas Eve._

_It wasn't too late._

_At least one girl was going to be happy tonight._

_It was an hour later when Peni Parker was in bed._

_And a figure crept in to her room._

_And laid a present on her bed (gift wrapping was harder than it looked)._

_Before he leaved, Noir observed her._

_Her hair (black, if he recalled) was at rest, her eyes (large, wide… Calming) were shut, and her snores were nearly silent._

_She muttered something about "gumballs" in her sleep, and giggled, and suddenly Noir realized that all his knots were actually wishes, wishes to die for her if it meant she was safe, vows to protect her from all harm, promises that would be kept till he was too old and too tired to keep going._

_Suddenly, as he kissed her forehead, Noir realized how much he cared, even though he feared hurting her._

_And though that fear didn't go away, it didn't stop him from seeing her and the rest as family._

_When Peni Parker woke up that morning and looked at the spider plush, she smiled._

_But it was when she saw the tag that said "Merry Christmas, Love, Noir" that she felt safe._


End file.
